The ELLE Field Guide to Self Help (And Helping Yourself)

In a world crowded with life coaches, gurus, and experts, we comb the advice-book universe to find what actually works: how to (really) get nicer, be calmer, lose weight, fix your relationships, and take charge. Here, we put some of the new year's crop of self-help tomes and solve some of our problems along the way.

The Worry Solution, by Martin Rossman, MD (Broadway) Big Promise: Control your anxiety, practically address your worries, and keep from panicking by calming down with visualization and organizing your problems into which you can solve, and which you can't.

Problem: I woke up seven snoozes after my alarm. Now I'm late for work, and trying to brush my teeth, respond to e-mails, and put on my pants—all at once.Solution: Stop, take six deep breaths from your diaphragm (to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system) and imagine you're in a peaceful place for one minute. Staying still seems counterproductive, but it will calm you so that you can make a plan that involves leaving the house with both legs in your pants.

Problem: Rent and bills are due, and I've received yet another letter telling me to start paying my student loans already. At this rate, in a year I'll be broke, my credit history will be shot, and I'll have to move into my parents' basement.Solution: Assess which troubles you can take off your plate. If you can pay all or some of your bills, that's a manageable start. You can't change my credit now, but you can make strides later. Don't indulge in panic—your parents' basement of far, far away.

The ELLE Field Guide to Self Help (And Helping Yourself)

The ELLE Field Guide to Self Help (And Helping Yourself)

The Mindful Way Through Anxiety: Break Free from Chronic Worry and Reclaim Your Life, by Susan M. Orsillo PhD and Lizabeth Roemer PhD (Guilford Press)Big Promise: Understand your stressors instead of trying to avoid them, and you'll be able to grapple with the situations that make break out in a sweat.

Problem: Oh my God, I don't want to die alone, but I don't know how to put myself out there.Solution: You can't protect yourself from all possible hurt or rejection, but you also can't replace fear with self-confidence by force of will. Examine what you want in a relationship and how to pursue it, knowing any pain you face is only temporary.